My simple suggestion to President Celson Chamisa to solve the problem of differences with his leadership colleagues within CCC:
All indications suggest that, for reasons that he has given much thought to, NC no longer needs any of the top leaders from the MDC era around him. He needs people he can lead, and who will accept his leadership, whatever reservations they might have about his leadership style or substance.
It’s also clear that he prefers to work mainly with younger activists, and this perhaps signals his perception or conviction of what his leadership calling entails: ushering in a generational shift in national leadership to the younger generation.
But in his way stands the legacy issues of his MDC-T succession and the consequences thereof, including the Khupe/Mwonzora challenges around MDC Alliance, and now, the Tshabangu challenges over CCC, which had come about as a cure to the MDC Alliance challenges.
In both cases, Chamisa has had to contend with his leadership colleagues, all of whom hail – like himself – from the foundations of the democratic change platform of the original MDC.
Note: I am making no judgement calls in this narration, I’m just recapping the journey travelled and noting the more obvious observations that most of us can agree on without much contention.
The suggestion:
If President Chamisa wants to be unbound by the legacy of the MDC and his erstwhile Cdes in the democratic change struggle, then here’s the most effective solution:
- Resign as Change Champion in Chief of CCC.
- Ask those MPs, Senators and Councillors elected on August 23 who stand with him to also resign.
- Announce the formation of a new party that is completely divorced from the legacy of the MDC and all its subsequent incarnations, including CCC.
- Launch that new party, articulating its vision, mission and goals, underscoring its values, and give it its electoral debut in the by-elections that would result from the resignations of those elected officials who elect to move on with him.
After this, no one will accuse Chamisa of throwing his colleagues under the bus to establish his personal authority. No one will challenge Chamisa’s claims that the new party is his personal creation and that those who follow him do so because they believe in him. No one will come to him with the history of the MDC to check him in any way.
I think this is an easy and straightforward path to pursue, because all it needs is the going currency that Chamisa possesses : mass national appeal.
And given that I’m writing on the eve of the Chitungwiza rally, who knows whether or not some of this might actually be on the cards tomorrow!
To sum up: suspending all judgements and looking purely at political necessity, my advice to
@nelsonchamisa
is: put clear water between you and the legacy formations of the MDC in all their incarnations, and chart your course as you and those you decide to work with choose to, and then present yourselves to the electorate in the resultant by-elections as a way of introducing your new platform to the national electorate.
I’ll leave it here. And all the best for tomorrow’s rally.